The bed-turning

Chris got up early (as usual) to go to work. I stayed in bed hoping to go back to sleep, but that didn't happen. Finally I got up a little before 7:30.
I put away lip balm stuff. I started a loaf of bread for Chris. I listened to the last episode of the Live Longer Feel Better summit. Today they were talking about how having a purpose and being connected to people helps you live longer.
I drove to Stitch-Its. I gave the book to Pat. She asked for the invoice. There were two pieces of paper stuck in the book that looked like invoices, but did not have the purchase price.
At 12:20 I drove to Huntsville Sew-n-Vac. I parked to wait for Beverly. The other Beverly was dropped off by her husband. She sat in my car until Beverly arrived. Then we got in her car and she drove us to Madison. We got there half an hour early, so we drove around looking at Christmas decorations. Then we parked in front of Jane's house. She was waiting for visitors. She had a book for everyone to sign. We looked at quilts she had on the walls and in her sewing room upstairs. A few other ladies arrived. Then we gathered in the front bedroom for the bedturning. She had 40 quilts of various sizes from small wallhangings to queen size. She had already shown them to her family and pinned the names of intended recipients to the corners. Terry helped her turn the quilts. We enjoyed the show. My hand started to hurt when I held my phone, so I put it down between pictures of quilts.
It was about 3 when we left. Beverly dropped the other Beverly off at the high school where her husband works. Then Beverly took me back to get my car. She told me the best way to go home to avoid traffic. I went down Oakwood to Jordan, to post. Very easy in spite of the number of cars.
Chris had just gotten home and was changing clothes. I opened the package he picked up at the post office: a bone supplement. I picked dandelion and made a salad for lunch. I also had some lamb.
I put on an audio and soon Michele started a game with Chris. It was too loud for me, so he went in another room.
I sewed the rows of quilt blocks together, finishing just in time for my skype call. We worked on her issues for an hour. Then I let Chris know I was done. He stopped the game, and made supper for himself. Then he made a bowl of popcorn. We watched two episodes of F-Troop. He put the DVD in the Netflix mailer.
I took my evening supplements and listened to part of another audio. I wrote my blog post and waited to see if we were done watching TV for the night.
* This is the quilt top that I finished today. *

Lost in the dark

I woke up early and did some mental programming. Then I got up about 7:38. I started swishing while listening to a CD and doing a cold detox bath. Later, I tried lying on the infrared heating pad. But I was not even close to sweating. Since my thermometers all said 65 and the thermostat said 70, I turned the heat up to 75. But the thermometers did not change. I put the ceiling fans on low to blow the heat back down toward the floor.
I boiled water for coffee and did my exercises and drybrushing. I did lots of tapping and meditation.
For some reason, I got a caffeine rush, which is unusual. But helpful, since I needed to clean for tomorrow. I did the kitchen counter tops and mopped the floor. Then I scrubbed the bathroom sinks and toilets. I scrubbed parts of the tub, too. I swept the floors, but was too tired then to mop them. I dustmopped the wooden floors in the living area. I also cleaned the diningroom table. I looked for anything else that might need cleaning before the maintenance people come tomorrow, and I spied the pumpkin sitting in the garage. It looked like a deflated basketball with juice pooling on one side. Yikes!
I looked for my new bottle of glutatione and when I could not find it, I contacted the company. Since I had just opened the box on Monday, the old bottle should have been replaced by the new one. The company said they would send a replacement.
I meant to have an Epsom salt soak, but did not have the energy for it. I made and ate breakfast. Then I took a shower and laid on the infrared mat again. When I got up, it was dark. My finger was hurting again and I couldn't figure out why it wasn't healing. It felt infected, but there was no cut so far as I could see. I trimeed the corner of the nail and put hydrogen peroxide on it anyway.
I laid out quilt squares in diagonal rows. Sadly my table wasn't quite big enough to lay them all out. When I noticed the time, I rushed out to choir practice. They were just getting started when I got there. We practiced songs I hadn't sung before. At the end, the director announced that in two weeks, instead of practice, we would sing for shut-in couples from our church. And then bring cookies for a party at Barbara's house.
As the members started leaving, I handed out some of the lip balms. I gave one to Jennifer and to Mary. I walked out with them and then headed home. I was almost home when Chris called. He was waiting to board his plane. I suggested getting a taxi and he said he would rather I picked him up. I told him it was really cold and he asked me to bring him a coat.
When I got in, I put my jar of lip balm in a double boiler. I washed and dried the remaining 15 pots. When the balm was melted, I used the syringe to fill the little pots. As the big pot resolidified, I listened to an audio on autoimmunity. I put the pumpkin in a large bowl and it went out the back door. Then I scrubbed up the putrid pumpkin juice. It had flowed under the wall behind the water heater so I could not get it all. I sprayed it with essential oil spray to cover the smell.
I ate some tomatoes, jicama, cashews, and a hard boiled egg. I sewed blocks together in rows. But by the time I got near the bottom, the blocks that were left did not match the pattern. There were two strips left, so I re-created some blocks.
Then I put my shoes on. I started cleaning up the lip balm project and Chris called from the airport. So I threw on my coat and a scarf. I headed out the infamous Gate 9. Being that it was dark and late at night, I got lost. I thought I had crossed 565 so I took a left to exit onto the highway, but there wasn't one. I drove around for awhile before I realized that I must not have crossed 565. I got back on the first road and continued farther. Then I saw the signs for a right hand exit. Finally I was on my way to the airport.
When I got there, Chris was waiting with his suitcase. He said he had just sat down. He loaded his luggage and got in the passenger seat. I drove us home with a little direction from him to be sure I didn't get lost again.
When we got home, I put finishing touches on my blog and posted it, more than ready to go to bed.

Another party

I laid awake for awhile, analyzing my dream. In it, I was with Chris and his friend. We were walking on a road at night and it took a turn into a forest. It was covered with leaves and twigs, and had sharp turns and steep slopes like a rollercoaster. I thought it was dangerous, especially in the dark, but they wanted to keep going.
I got up about 7:30. I put away all the boxes of supplements in the kitchen. I checked e-mail while swishing. Then I put on an audio on vaccines and folded up the fabric I got out Saturday for the Christmas bag. I took a packet of Vitamin C.
Then I got dressed, made and ate breakfast. I considered staying home because of the rain. I put a dish of dates and a project in my tote bag and drove through the driving rain to the Tuesday group. When I got there, they were sitting in a circle opening gifts they had just exchanged. I had forgotten to bring one so it didn't matter to me. Then we sat at 4 tables and Susan gave everyone a ticket. She called a number and whoever had the number had to stand up and sing the song for that table (along with the other people sitting there), and then the person got a gift. When my number was called, I got a chocolate mold.
There was a table off to the side with sets of gifts for everyone. The first set was a triangular fabric box with caramel corn in it. I picked a purple one. Susan told me she had made all 50 of them by the end of last January. The second one was of sachets. The third one was of measuring tapes in test tubes. I was going to hand out lip balms but I did not have enough for everybody so I decided to save them for next week.
Then everyone put their food on a table and we had an early lunch. After lunch there was cleaning up and socializing. Beverly and I made plans for Thursday.
It must have been 1pm till I left. I went to the Asian market to get kimbap and kimchi. When I got home, it was still raining. I brought in the recycle container, and everything from the car. I ate a few pieces of kimbap with kimchi but the kimchi wasn't fermented enough (for my taste). I jotted some notes from my blog. I wondered how I was going to pick fresh dandelion for my daily salad.
I put on audio, and opened the box of rulers for machine quilting. I played around with Kaleidoscope Kreator on a piece of orange fabric. I wanted to see what a 4-block would look like, but the smallest it had was a 6-block. Still, I was able to determine that a 4 or 5 inch block would have the right amount of 'action' on that fabric.
I folded laundry and put mine away. I cleared my sewing table, then laid out rail fence squares from the Monday group. I estimated the number of blocks and calculated the options for width vs height, stopping to catch up on e-mail. I washed my footies. I mended my pocket pouch.
I looked for Christmas cards but did not find any. So I took pics of some Christmas fabrics, e-mailed them to the desktop computer, then opened them in Kaleidoscope Kreator. I then chose one to open in MS Paint. I wrote Merry Christmas on it with the text function. Then I tried to print it out. It was red and gold with black print,, but it came out green and white. That probably means the cartridge is out of red and blue ink. There is likely another cartridge around here somewhere, but green and white works for Christmas.
Myra Facebooked me about dissolving the sewing class in Chinhae. So I called her and we spoke for some time. I hated to see it close but the ladies now in charge have no one to take it over.
I watched a video showing how the symptoms of autism were like the symptoms of mercury poisoning and the same treatment helps both. I finished the card and put it in an envelop to mail. There wasn't time to watch an episode of Miss Marple, so I watched some craft videos on Youtube instead. I took my evening supplements and finished my blog post, ready for bed.

Still not a fan of dirty santa

I woke up early and tried to do some mental programming for the day, but it wasn't going well. I got up around 7:30. I swished and turned on the router so I could check e-mail. I listened to audios while making hummus. That went ok. Then I made and ate breakfast. In order to make breakfast, I had to replenish some of the mixtures so that involved figuring out what was in there and how much to put in of each.
I unpacked the bag of birthday cards and found the earrings my mother-in-law gave me. I also went back through the suitcase and found some essential oils. In my travel bag were finger lights. I can't imagine why I put them there. So I put them with the others. I packed lip balms in a bag for distribution at the party. I went through my purse, but did not find anything that didn't belong. Then I got dressed for the day. I found a glass tray for my hummus and jicama sticks. Did I mention cutting up the jicama last night?
I put the hummus in a jar and the jicama in a plastic container. I put them on top of the tray and put them in a bag. Pat called about a book I had ordered for her. I looked it up and saw that it was probably at the post office waiting for me.
I headed to the Monday group and arrived before noon. I put the 12 Days of Christmas bag on the dirty santa table. I put the jicama and hummus on the food table. I also had a small project bag in case we were sewing later.
Soon Dinah was calling for lunch. She said a prayer and we lined up. I found a few things I could eat with little misgiving. I sat near the end of the table and talked to Dinah, Bertha, Rebecca and Victoria. When everyone finished eating, Dinah announced the dirty santa game.
She had each of us pick a number out of a hat. I picked 8 (out of 12). One by one the ladies went up to get a bag. They pulled out what was in the bag to show everyone. Ostensibly, it was the same stuff I put in my bag, but much nicer, more coordinated. And most bags were hand made. I felt badly about the one I had put together. So when my number was called, I chose my own bag. I tried to pretend that it wasn't, but I failed. The game continued and the other bags were taken. Dinah said next year I wasn't allowed to choose my own bag. Well, weeks ago, someone suggested that I do an orange theme because she likes orange. So I did, but then she picked a container of cookies instead. I didn't think anyone else would go for all that orange.
When it was over, I handed out lip balms to everyone there. People were packing up their leftover food and heading out.
As I was preparing to leave, Dad called. He was looking for a container that formerly held rice. He had trouble hearing me. He asked me to explain why he couldn't hear me. I asked if he was wearing his hearing aids and he said no, but it wasn't usually a problem on the phone. I said I would talk to him later.
By then I was alone. I took my bags out to the car and headed back to the arsenal.
I stopped at the post office on the way home. I was surprised to see six packages waiting for me. I carried them out to my car. Then I drove to the housing office to pay the rent. She mentioned the drop box for after hours. I eyeballed it on the way out.
When I got home, I did some tapping for disappointment in how the dirty santa game turned out. I wanted everyone to be happy, but clearly that did not happen.
I opened the boxes and pulled out the vitamins. I finished assembling the supplements for two weeks. But there was no new bottle of Vitamin E. I checked my last couple of orders and it was not there. I put one in my cart in Swansons. One box had included a $10 coupon but it was not good until Dec 6th.
I took a quick walk around the circle, then got in Chris' car for a refresher course. Chris called while I was driving his car around the neighborhood. He said his boss here wants him back at work on Thursday so he is coming back Wednesday night.
After the drive, I called Dad back while picking dandelion in the back yard. He seemed to hear me much better, so we finished our conversation.
For supper, I ate a chicken leg, and a piece of lamb. Later I made a salad, and ate a papaya.
I washed dishes and soaked my fingers in the warm water. (I read that it was good for hangnails). I added some salt to the water for good measure.
I listened to an audio while assembling the recyclables. I put them out for collection tomorrow. I jotted notes for my blog. I drank some salt water.
Although it was 9pm, I watched an episode of Miss Marple. I wished Chris were here to explain the parts I didn't get. It was over about 11 and I went to bed.

Getting caught up at home

I don't know when we woke up. But we enjoyed each other's company for a while and got up at 9:45. I washed up and got dressed. I drank two cups of water and took some coconut oil. Then I drove to church.
I got there just in time to warm up with the choir. Jennifer had to give me an updated sheet of music. I wrote a check before the service started. Chris was not there, but he came after the first hymn. We worshiped together, then I went to the restroom. I think Chris was ready to leave, but people engaged him in conversation. I went looking for Cecelia. I spoke to Doris for awhile. Then I found Cecelia whose husband died about a week ago. We had a conversation about the aftermath of a spouse dying.
Chris and I drove to the grocery store separately. We met at the cart line and went through the store, picking things for me to eat. We had just checked out when I remembered that I needed two things for tomorrow. So he left and I went back to get a grocery tote and a package with two pieces of chocolate in it. The check-out lady thought it was the cutest bag and wanted one for herself.
On the way home, I stopped at the bank for cash. Chris had unloaded the groceries and put them away by the time I got there. He was preparing a hunk of lamb for the oven. He also cut up cabbage to roast in the oven. I helped peel garlic then made and ate breakfast.
I read e-mail while I ate. Chris packed for his trip. Then I drove Chris to the airport and came home.
I read e-mail again and listened to an audio: water from plants is more hydrating than drinking tap water. Adding a pinch of unprocessed salt to drinking water helps it become more hydrating.
I picked some dandelion from the back yard. At 5:30 I pulled the lamb out of the oven. I cut into it in several places and it seemed to be done. I put some on a plate to eat during another audio: ascorbate can remove toxic metals from the body.
I put the food away, and washed some dishes, putting others in the dishwasher. I wiped off all the cans from the grocery store. I cleaned burnt sweet potato out of the oven. I looked up hummus recipes. I found one and it seemed better to make it in the morning.
Then I made seed crackers. Chris called to say he had arrived in Miami. While listening to an audio on breathing, I started putting together two weeks of daily supplements but did not have enough of certain ones. I had to leave them set out until I can go to the post office and pick up the replacements.
I drank some bone broth and took my last dose of evening supplements. I typed up my blog while listening to another audio on breathing: breath volume is a reliable predictor of how much longer you will live. As the audio came to an end, I posted to my blog, ready to go to bed.

Home again, home again

We got up at 8:30. Chris took a shower. He went down to breakfast while I took my shower. I got dressed and started making breakfast. I was trying to watch an interview from the Live Longer summit, but it kept cutting out. After rebooting Waterfox several times, it started playing ok. I finished my breakfast and then packed up. I had to pause the audio so I could pack the laptop and we could pack the car.
We got on the road about 11am EST. We listened to an audiobook downloaded from Librevox to my tablet. But the chapters did not play in order, so I had to restart each one after the last one.
At our last rest stop, I looked for my ID but only found my driver's license. When we got to the front gate of the arsenal, it was closed. So we went in gate 10. We stopped by the library to drop off the books on CD and pick up some Miss Marple videos.
Then we went home and unloaded the car. I brought in the house mail. We set up our laptops. We unpacked the suitcases and assembled dirty laundry. I listened to an audio while eating: he said cells become cancerous when their energy drops through loss of electrons. Increase their energy, and they become regular cells again. Microcurrent devices, intravenous vitamin C, and pulsed electromagnetic frequencies can dissolve tumors.
I put away the clean clothes in my suitcase. I started unpacking the food box, but decided that I needed to pick dandelion while it was still daylight. I got a handful of leaves and some chives. We decided to go grocery shopping tomorrow after church, even though I have to get Chris to the airport by 3pm. I jotted things on the list for making seed crackers and hummus.
I spent hours putting together a 12 Days of Christmas bag for the party on Monday. I cut strips, and charm squares and fat quarters and even pieced a nine-patch. Eventually I got everything on the list except for the two chocolate turtles.
We had leftover chicken and cauliflower for supper. I made a salad with the dandelion that I picked earlier. I had a piece of home made chocolate, too.
I read the two cards from MaryAnn: one for Thanksgiving and one for Christmas. I always appreciate being on her card list.
I started listening the interview on GMO's. When Chris was ready, he fired up the DVD player. We watched several episodes of F-Troop, courtesy of Netflix. I got so tired that I curled up on the couch and nearly fell asleep. But after a while I got up to post to my blog and sleep properly.
* a pic from the quilt show in October. *

Halfway Home

I got up about 9. While getting clean clothes out of my suitcase, I strained my back, but I tapped and it got better. I made and ate breakfast. We put the frozen leftovers in our food box and packed the car. Chris had some plants that Michele and Marie brought down from DC.
When we got on the road, we played the rest of a CD we were listening to. That finished our second book on CD. Since we did not have a third, Chris suggested listening to the first one again. I fell asleep for a bit. Traffic was light. When we got past Bristol, there was an accident on the other side of the road.
We found our hotel with no problem (and the help of GPS on Chris' phone). Going up the elevator, I noticed a very strong Lysol smell. I had to hold my breath. Then in the bathroom, the floor was sticky – probably too much soap. I mentioned it to the desk clerk and she came up later and mopped it.
I ate my now-defrosted leftover veggies and beans. Chris ate cheese and my leftover tortillas. I listened to one of the many interviews that have been posted recently. It was about a product called Biome Medic that reduces C-Reactive Protein and glyphosate levels. I looked up the ingredients since it was fairly expensive.
Michele called Chris and they played the dinosaur game. But the game did not go well because of the bandwidth (or something like that). So we scrolled through the channels and found back to back episodes of Big Bang Theory. During the commercials, we figured out how to download an audiobook to my tablet for the trip tomorrow. When Big Bang Theory was over, we watched Despicable Me 2.
And then we went to bed.
* a bare tree on the way to Alabama. *